Barry Baseball Cages Golden Panthers

MIAMI, Fla. – Barry University (29-12) edged Florida International (12-27) 10-9 on Tuesday evening at University Park Stadium. Following late inning dramatics, the Bucs were able to seal the victory against their cross-town rival.

In the bottom of the ninth with one out, and the Buccaneers holding a 10-9 lead, the Golden Panthers put the tying run on first base as Javier Sujo drew a walk from Bobby Riley. Lamar Guy was then placed at first as the pinch runner in place of Sujo for speed on the bases. On the following play, Guy attempted to steal second however an errant throw by Chris Leon allowed Guy to advance all the way to third. Riley then struck out the batter, Enrique Cepero, however he reached first on a fielder’s choice as Leon made a heads up play to throw Guy out at third, who was off the bag when Cepero struck out.

Only an out away from securing the victory more dramatics occurred as the Golden Panthers loaded up the bases. FIU could not muster anything else as Riley successfully managed to get Corey Lozano to pop out to Evan Ashley to end the game.

FIU got on the board first in the bottom of the second inning, as they loaded up the bases on three consecutive base hits with no outs. With the bases jammed, Javier Sujo worked a full count walk, giving FIU the 1-0 advantage. The following batter, Enrique Cepero hit a little flair into left field allowing another run to score. The Golden Panthers capped the inning with four runs off of five hits.

Joel Keefe hit a two run homerun in the top of the fourth inning, cutting the FIU lead in half. John Servidio reached first on the previous at-bat after being hit by a pitch. Manny Pedrozo continued the Buccaneer threat with a double to left field allowing teammate Yudelmis Hernandez to advance to third from first with one out. In the following at bat, Brett Rossi hit a sacrifice fly to right field, allowing Hernandez to score and Pedrozo to move on to third.

Mitch Rodriguez tied the game up at 4-4 with an inside the park homerun off the first pitch he saw in the top of the fifth. Rodriguez drove a pitch to deep right center which was misplayed by Raimy Fuentes. As the ball rolled through, Rodriguez sped through the diamond and scored the tying run. Servidio gave the Bucs the lead, 5-4 on a RBI single to right field, driving in Andrew Frezza.

Jorge Castillo hit his seventh homerun of the season for FIU in the fifth, tying the contest up at 5-5. Rodriguez answered again in the sixth with a three-run dinger over the right field wall as the Buccaneers took the lead 9-5.

The Golden Panthers clawed out three runs in the bottom half of the sixth off of consecutive doubles to cut the Buccaneer lead down to one 9-8.

In the bottom of the eighth, FIU tied up the ballgame 9-9 as Castillo hit a two out RBI single. With runners in scoring position, Tyler Townsend hit a deep shot to deep right center field and Frezza robbed him of a RBI extra base hit with an amazing diving catch at the warning track.

Frezza continued to be the catalyst for the Buccaneers in the top of the ninth. Leading off the inning he was hit by a pitch and awarded first base. While at first, FIU pitcher Jorge Marban attempted to pick off Frezza but overthrew the first baseman. Frezza used his speed to make the most of the error and advanced all the way to third. While at third, Marban made another error, throwing a wild pitch, allowing Frezza to score the go-ahead run 10-9.

Riley (2-1) earned the victory for the Buccaneers, going four innings of relief giving up six hits and three earned runs while striking out three. Aaron Main started the game and was solid through five, allowing nine hits and five earned runs.

Marban (0-3) was tagged with the loss for FIU. He pitched two innings of relief allowing one run while striking out three.

Rodriguez powered the Buccaneers with two homeruns and four RBI on the game. Keefe added two RBI, while Servidio added one RBI.

Castillo led the Golden Panthers offensively with a 3-for-5 performance and three RBI.

The Buccaneers return to action this weekend in a pivotal three-game Sunshine State Conference series against Florida Southern. The first game is scheduled for Friday evening at 6:00 pm at Feinbloom Field.